JG, when you say "medical condition", is this physical or psychological? Give us a hint before you come right out with it.

While I would say "no" to that type of theory, it is at least interesting. Physically, I'm going to guess this has something to do with Bella's blood. A blood condition may have contributed to the placental detachment. In fact, sub-par blood clotting ability could be indicated by her easy bruising during the honeymoon, followed by the placental detachment later. There is also the ease of her blushing, or maybe the fact she has little pallor unless she is blushing. Am I close?

One more item, the fainting, another symptom of hemophilia. Not full-blown there, just a problem with blood clotting. Maybe this blood condition also contributes to the "sweetness" of her smell to other vampires?

"It will take an amazing amount of control,” she mused. “More even than Carlisle has. He may be just strong enough…the only thing he’s not strong enough to do is stay away from her. That’s a lost cause.”

Tornado, actually, you mentioned blood first, which I thought was logical.

It was either that or syphilis caught indirectly from Tanya.

We should never flinch from the truth, no matter where it leads us.

"It will take an amazing amount of control,” she mused. “More even than Carlisle has. He may be just strong enough…the only thing he’s not strong enough to do is stay away from her. That’s a lost cause.”

Well, a blood disorder is actually where I thought she was going with it, as well. It does make complete sense. But, she was actually being much more serious than I gave her credit for. If you put some seeming innocuous symptoms together, things that might not even appear to be symptoms on their surface, they actually do point to a certain possibility that at least explains some of Bella's idiosyncrasies, both physical and social.

We are all well aware of Bella's clumsiness. But, I always felt it was a bit beyond a normal gawky or awkward individual. It seemed like she almost didn't know where her feet were or couldn't feel her balance. And, we know from her adventures in gym class and delusion-courting that her hand-eye coordination was not the best.

Physically, we have enough evidence that Bella had a fairly high pain tolerance. For example, after the van incident and when being stitched up by Carlisle after Jasper attacks her, it is the blood to which she reacts, not the pain of her injuries. When she cuts herself during the confrontation with Victoria and Riley, she barely notes the pain of slicing her arm open. And, we know that despite being bruised head-to-toe during the wedding night, she didn't once register pain (yes, I have my suspicions as to why on that one, but go with me here). And, evne in transformation, she is able to disconnect herself from the pain enough to hold in her agony (another characteristic which pervades her life; constantly telling people she's fine when she should be hurt) Another tactile symptom one might see is her non-reaction to Edward's (or any of the Cullen's) cold skin.

Add it all up; constant stumbling and being unsure on her feet, balance issues, restless legs at night and sleep talking, nonreaction to touching cold surfaces, high pain threshold. There are medical names for all of these things, as I've been informed. Ataxia, propriception deficit, vestibular ataxia, vertigo, dystonia and dysdiasochokinesia. Taken together, and in the absense of other conditions, these are indicators of Multiple Sclerosis.

I'm not saying at all that SM set out to write this in the story. But, the symptoms are all there. And, it also could explain some of Bella's social deficits and anxieties as well. "Clumsy" children, those with less physical skill than others, can be ostracized, not picked to play games or sports, which we know Bella ran from in fear. They're physical symptomology can make them socially awkward because they see themselves as different, less than, and that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Thus, you end up with 17-year-old socially awkward, bookworm Bella, more caretaker than carefree, grown beyond her years for a number of factors, but with an amazing capacity to love. And then you have the collision of the two. Perhaps, Edward changing Bella might have been much more an act of mercy and love than either of them understood at the time?

That's very interesting, Jazz Girl, and quite plausible. But because I'm a pedantic nitwit I will point out the Bella didn't actually cut herself in the book of Eclipse. I guess you could just point to less pain in her broken hand (broken hitting the dog) than she should have otherwise experienced.

Good one, JG. Very interesting. It does have the benefit of being diagnosed by Edward as well. He initially reads Bella as a graceful girl, and is surprised some time later to discover she actually isn't. And when he calls Bella "unusually graceful" in BD, what he really meant was "unexpectedly graceful". Emmett, after all, was unusually strong but that wasn't surprising. The venom corrects a nerve disease, restoring Bella's natural gracefulness, and voila!

So, this is "The Disease That Shall Not Be Named", otherwise known as...MS.

"It will take an amazing amount of control,” she mused. “More even than Carlisle has. He may be just strong enough…the only thing he’s not strong enough to do is stay away from her. That’s a lost cause.”

I like your explanation Jazz Girl or I guess I should say your friend's explanation. Though, I thought you were referring to Bella being a danger magnet when you mentioned predicament. But, I like the whole medical condition diagnosis explaining Bella’s symptoms and how they relate to her vampire state. This is something I often wondered about. I really like it. Thank you for sharing.

corona wrote:
So, this is "The Disease That Shall Not Be Named", otherwise known as...MS.

Oh, that is too ironic!! How funny!

Oh, and hi everyone. I"m still lurking around, listening in on your conversations. Very interesting stuff. If life ever settles down, I may actually have something to add, but not at the moment. Hope that's okay.